personal finance budgeting

J.D.: Parents tend not to like parenting advice from parents either. You really can’t win. It’s a war zone re: parenting choices out there, and all that tells me is that overall families with kids are not feeling well-accommodated in the current economic structure.

Glad the family factor finally got mentioned though. Similarly our first cutting area would have to be kids’ extracurriculars, second would be quality of nutrition, third would be heat, then we’d sell the house or take on a tenant rather than lending our basement apartment to a friend.

Parenthood has three-quartered our income and nearly quadrupled our expenses. We didn’t have a car, for example, before the kids started begging for us to please get out of the city sometimes. And how do you say no to that if you can afford it? “No, kid. Go play in the parking lot. Trees aren’t all they’re chalked up to be.” Our only financial fat is kids’ activities. With two kids and no consumer debt, we have very little to cut re: grownup expenses. (Um, we get takeout once a week so I can stop cooking for a minute?)

Etc. etc..

That said I’m constantly looking for ways to bring a little in here and there while I’m mostly at home. This will get easier when they’re both in full day school. Day care + summer camps would cost more than my salary as an arts professional, so I opted to stay mainly at home for seven years. Opted being a strong word. It was a financial no-brainer, and I personally felt I had no choice. On the other hand other parents I know feel compelled to work full time because in their particular situation that makes the most sense. Truly every situation is different, and no doubt everyone is doing what they can to provide as much as they can for their kids.

Financial factors aside, some people freely admit to not being able to handle the stresses of at-home parenting. Self-knowledge is key to this gig. Better the kids are in daycare than cared for by a no doubt loving but resentful and unhappy parent. Loving the act of parenting and loving your children are two very different things.

Life on the fast track can be taxing. With the ever-growing list of responsibilities, we have more and more bills to pay and an even longer set of reminders and tasks there is to keep track of. Life on the fast track can be taxing.

In order to help reduce the burden of remembering the things you need to do and actually focus on the task at hand; we have 2 great iPhone apps to recommend. Both of these apps have been featured on MakeUseOf before: NotifyMe and Bills.

This week, we will be giving away 5 promo codes for each application. Find out how you can get one, after the jump.

But first let’s take a look at the apps individually.

NotifyMe 2

NotifyMe 2 is the updated version of NotifyMe and only supports iOS4. At the very core, it is still a reminder application. You create tasks/reminders which are synced over the air to NotifyMe’s servers. When your tasks are due, you receive a push notification sent to your iPhone.

All tasks/reminders can also be accessed online via the cloud server, notifymecloud.com and can be used to track your list of reminders easily.

In this updated version, you can also create local reminders which are stored on your device. This is a huge help you are only looking to create short-term reminders without internet access.

NotifyMe 2 also supports task sharing — any reminder can be shared with any authorised NotifyMe 2 user and will appear on their upcoming screen.

For a more in-depth review of the previous version (which will also provide you with a rough concept of how the app works), please read Never Forget Anything Again With NotifyMe for iPhone

Bills

Bills (also known as Bills ~ on your table) is a simple payment tracking application. This app helps you track pending bills and their corresponding due dates efficiently and elegantly as well.

Bills can be set to automatically repeat daily, weekly, monthly or annually. When a payment is due, you’ll receive a push notification with a gentle reminder (or pre-reminder, which you can set to occur days prior).

For a more in-depth review, check out Never Forget To Pay Another Bill Again With Bills ~ On Your Table

How do I win a copy?

It’s simple, just follow the instructions.

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